And when life is all said and done, the stories we really will be thinking about in our last moments were who liked us and who loved us and what moved us, and the springtimes we remember, and the moments of personal drama and courage and meaning that came into our lives.

With the networks taking in a tidy $40,000 per minute for Salem springtimes and Marlboro men riding into the sunset, lobbying and influence-peddling against the FCC were energetic and after the January 1, 1971, cut-off, the withdrawal symptoms were severe.